Thursday, October 25, 2012

Travel with
children is so much fun. You never know when or where the next bathroom break
will occur or the condition of the facilities – and I’ve seen some real doozies
in my time! I personally like the suspense of waiting for the Cadillac graveyard on
I-40 west of Amarillo, Texas, or the billboard build up for Clines Corners in New Mexico as one
travels west on the same highway. Hold on, kids! Only 300 more miles to Indian
tomahawks, tom-toms, and kachina dolls. What would we ever do without such life
experiences?

In many ways,
the history of humankind is not unlike a journey taken with children. You have
to take the good with the bad and expect the unexpected.

For example, the
Twentieth Century represented the rapid and accelerated culmination of
centuries of progress to form the modern nation state. Driven by nationalism,
religion, economic necessity and many other factors, warfare was the standard
medium to achieve domination by one nation over another. While such global war
in the traditional form has in large measure been contained and hopefully
eliminated due to weapons of mass destruction, regional warfare continues.
Civil society has broken down in Syria and the emergence of the Arab Spring has
awakened new clashes in Africa and the Middle East. Global terrorism has
brought forth the possibility of dirty bombs, disruption of vital
infrastructure networks, and biological agents as real threats to humanity.

In the past,
government programs to ameliorate the pressure for war or social disruption
spun off significant innovations that fueled global competitiveness. The
Internet and the modern information age are prime examples. Some would even
argue as did Vannevar
Bush in his famous report after World War II that the accelerated growth of
science and technology over time has arisen principally from advancing the art
and practice of warfare. Hopefully, we take a broader view to global
competition these days!

But whatever
one’s views as to the reasons and the forces driving innovation on the grand
scale, it seems clear that such innovations arise from attacking the major
issues facing humanity. So, what are those issues as we pass through the second
decade of the Twenty-first Century? Has anyone identified the grand challenges
facing us?

Interestingly,
such an accounting was generated by Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley at Rice
University before his untimely death. I reproduce his list as follows:

·Energy

·Water

·Food

·Environment

·Poverty

·Terrorism & War

·Disease

·Education

·Democracy

·Population

Smalley was
passionate about the need for society to take on these grand challenges in a
big way and I agree with him. Whether you accept this particular parsing or
not, we can all agree that attacking these issues is essential for the
betterment of civilization.

Are we there
yet?

Sadly, no! And
if anything, we appear to be regressing as major components of society,
including many in leadership roles, are in denial of the basic facts associated
with each of these issues. Even worse, disinformation to achieve
self-advancement has become an accepted practice, especially by politicians.

Take “energy”
for example. As I’ve previously
written, the “energy problem” – or better said, the “fuel problem” – is technologically
a solved problem. It’s called solar energy. Yes, we need innovations to improve
the price curve and, yes, we need a smart distribution grid system, but solar
energy is capable of satisfying all of our demand for electricity and
potentially all of our demand for transportation fuel. Not unlike the
electrification of America or the build-out of the interstate highway system,
it’s only a matter of engaging the American will power to get it done that
holds us back from achieving a solar economy. Of course, our mulish insistence
on subsidizing and sustaining past all bounds the oil and gas sector doesn’t
help.

And what about
the environment as represented by human-driven global climate change, or the
insistence of some to frack our way to polluting our ground-water supply, or
the chant of “drill baby drill?” Ignoring the environment on such a global
scale is guaranteed to provide future generations with a reduced standard of
living and to saddle our children with a doozy of a rest stop on their journey
through life.

Are we there
yet?

Just as children
hector their parents with this repetitive question, we as citizens need to
hector our political leaders and remind them that there are major issues to be
addressed. Dysfunctional behavior in Washington and in our state capitals is
simply not acceptable.

This morning, I
voted early for President Obama. Such a vote in Texas will have no impact and
is merely a statement of my own strongly held personal preference. I urge each
of you to vote. And I urge you to continue asking the rhetorical question:

Friday, October 12, 2012

The 1950s
heralded the outbreak of over a half-century of spectacular innovations by
America’s best and brightest including the creation of an innovation ecosystem
second to none – not to mention the invention of rock and roll music. By any
measure, the United States became the dominant world power as a nation driven
by innovation. So say the pundits and so say our nation’s leaders.

And at the core
of that success was a social contract whereby the federal government funded
basic research and discovery as the source of new ideas leading to those
innovations, principally at state-supported and private research universities.
So why is it that many in America are in denial of this basic truth? Why is it
that American universities must once again defend a strategy that has been the
envy of the world?

For those of you
not paying attention, we as citizens have yet another tome to digest entitled Research Universities and
The Future of America.
Commissioned by Senators Lamar Alexander and Barbara Mikulski and U.S.
Representatives Bart Gordon and Ralph Hall, the National Academies was asked to
assess the competitive position of American research universities and to
propose the top ten actions that our nation should undertake. This report is
the result of that study. And yes, I read the whole thing including the
Appendices … well, maybe not EVERY word.

Like its many
predecessors, the report documents the case for American research universities
as being at risk. Here are just a few of the issues.

·Significant decline in state support of
public universities leading to troubling tuition increases, calls for cost
containment and efficiency, attempts to squeeze more out of intellectual
property and technology commercialization, privatization of public
universities, and a host of other cure-all revenue concepts, but with the
underlying premise that federal dollars cannot replace state dollars.

·Unstable and flattened federal funding
for research.

·Deterioration of endowments.

·Global competition with competitors a
mouse click away leading to “the Death of Distance.”

·Failure to produce graduates matched to
both national and business interests and with the proper mix of skill sets and
capabilities.

·Changing national demographics and
relationships with industry as well as rapidly evolving technologies.

·Dismantling of industrial R&D
laboratories.

·The required size and shortened time
scale of modern research.

No one doubts
that America needs a national strategy for education and research. And no one
doubts that we need targeted national goals and grand challenges. The report
addresses these points by first establishing five guiding principles that I
paraphrase as follows:

·Balanced set of commitments by all
partners and stakeholders

·Matching requirements

·Flexibility

·Long-term effort commitment

·Support for comprehensive nature of
research universities

Based on these
principles, the report recommends ten action items to be undertaken by all of
the stakeholders. I simplify and paraphrase these recommendations as follows:

1.Stable and effective policies, practices,
and funding for university performed R&D and graduate education.

2.Autonomy to respond with agility coupled
with a restoration of state appropriations.

4.Cost effective and lean university
management through increased productivity – a variant of the “more for less”
approach – using agreed upon outcome measures.

5.“Strategic Investment Program” focused on
endowed chairs – particularly for young faculty – as well as research
infrastructure and capacity building cognizant of national and business
interests.

6.Full cost recovery for research.

7.Optimal regulatory environment including
harmonization across agencies and the use of best practices versus a
compliance-driven approach.

8.America’s best and brightest attracted to
viable career and national interest focused graduate programs.

9.Inclusion of women and underrepresented
minorities.

10.Participation of international students
and scholars.

As always, the
devil is in the details, but I applaud the effort put forth by the National
Academies in producing this report, even though I question some of its points.
It is a worthy defense of American research universities and their role in the
social contract that has produced our great nation. The recommendations should
be immediately acted upon by all of the stakeholders and, most especially, by
Congress.And in the past, they
would have been, but no more. Instead, this report is already gathering dust on
the shelves of history, quickly forgotten and unlikely to have any impact whatsoever.

Sadly, the American Dream that bloomed in the
Twentieth Century has become a bubble ready to be burst by the pointed barbs of
those who simply don’t get it and by those who would vote against their own
best interests. And as Bill Haley aptly crooned, “After while, crocodile!”

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Slicing
and dicing with the newest bladed innovation guaranteed to achieve the perfect
cut are a staple of television commercials, usually embellished by a fast
talking huckster with a nasal New York accent. And if you purchase their $19.99
product in the next ten minutes, they’ll throw in the Ginzu knife for free. But
wait! They are going to double their offer and give you TWO choppers for the
extra low price of $19.99. What a deal!

Of
course, slicing and dicing isn’t limited to the preparation of food. It’s a
technique we use all the time to deconstruct various human endeavors into their
component elements, typically to create the latest and greatest strategic plan.
Mechanical gadgets are replaced by “instruments” and “planning techniques” sold
to us by consultants who guarantee us an optimal strategic plan as the output
instead of the perfect chopped salad. And they throw in the vinaigrette sauce
for free.

Take,
for example, the research enterprise at most American universities. Exactly
what is it that a newly minted vice president for research must do to propel
himself and his university research program to the cutting edge? Is there a
recipe for success?

Guess
what! First, you have to take the ingredients that you’ve been given, slice and
dice, and then reform them into the perfect salad, otherwise known as your
strategic plan. Looks count just as much as the taste.

And now
for the Ginzu knife! For free, I’m going to throw in my own version of a sliced
and diced research enterprise at a university. It’s missing the filler words
such as “increase, expand, accelerate, enhance, and promote” since those are
just spices chosen to suit one’s particular taste buds. It’s also missing all
those words from the planning lexicon such as strategic, tactical, vision,
mission, input, output, outcome, objective, goal and metric since, as Bob Dylan
sang in Subterranean Homesick Blues,
“Get jailed, jump bail, join the Army if you failed.”

About Me

Keith McDowell is a scientist and research administrator widely known for his research in theoretical chemical physics on quantum dissipative systems and for his leadership as the vice chancellor for research and technology transfer at The University of Texas System as well as vice president for research at The University of Texas at Arlington and The University of Alabama. Dr. McDowell is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Harvard University. An Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and awardee of the University of Texas Chancellor's Award for Teaching, Dr. McDowell is currently a retired professor of chemistry from The University of Texas at Arlington residing in Austin, Texas. Keith is an expert genealogist with several books and manuscripts to his credit (www.mcdowellgenealogy.com) and an avid mountaineer with over 500 ascents spanning forty years.

New eBook by McDowell!

Innovation! It’s the cure-all for an ailing America. So says conventional wisdom. And the engine of innovation is the American university – the wellspring of new knowledge to fill the technology and commercialization pipeline. But universities and their faculty are under attack as being poor stewards of what some perceive as a new mission. Who is right? What is the real story? Go Forth and Innovate! reveals a personal perspective on the inner workings of the modern research university and its role in the innovation ecosystem.